The few bee remains that have been found have allowed some entomological autopsies to be conducted and investigators elsewhere had already identified a fungus, known as Nosema apis, in the guts of the dead insects.

The forecast came as the Australian Bureau of ... scientists have sequenced the genome of an invasive parasite called Nosema ceranae that can kill honey bees and is one of the many suspects in the mysterious

In two articles published in 2008 Spanish researchers showed that natural infection with the Nosema fungus can cause the sudden collapse of bee colonies, establishing a direct association between infection and the death of honeybee colonies under real-world field conditions.